Virtual peer support programme for carers of MND

RCT of virtual peer-to-peer support programme for carers of MND

This study is actively recruiting family/informal carers of people with MND. Read the recruitment flyer (PDF, 202KB) to find out more.

UK Chief Investigator

Louise Rose

Research summary

Providing care as a family member or friend of a person with motor neurone disease is challenging and may negatively impact the caregiver’s wellbeing. This negative impact can increase as the person’s disease progresses to needing support for feeding and breathing. Unfortunately, at present there are no studies identifying effective strategies to support these caregivers.

Peer support, an organised form of support provided by and for people with similar conditions, problems or experiences, is a strategy shown to help caregivers of people with conditions such as dementia. Peer support can be in-person; however, this may create problems for people with high caregiving demands, or social or living conditions preventing participation. Virtual peer support is more accessible and may be better than in-person peer support delivery. However, there are no studies confirming benefits of virtual peer support for informal caregivers of people with motor neurone disease at risk of or needing breathing or feeding support. Our study proposes to address this gap.

We will test if a 12-week virtual peer support programme developed by our team can improve caregivers’ mood and being able to manage and cope with their caregiving situation. The programme allows people to chat using text, audio, or video connections with a weekly group chat and discussion boards. We will recruit informal caregivers from clinics, services and organisations providing care or support to people with motor neurone disease. We will use a research method that enables all people that agree to the study, the chance to be in the programme. However, half of those that agree will only receive usual supports so we can compare their mood, burden and coping skills with people receiving the programme. We will ask people how they liked the programme and study which features are used and how often. 

This trial is placebo-controlled. It is important to understand what this means. Click the links to go to the glossary of terms and read  further explanations.

When considering taking part in any clinical trial, it is important to consider:
  • What the chances are of you being randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a placebo group
  • How long you would remain on this treatment allocation
  • If the study offers an open-label extension on completion of the main study.

Current status

Active – recruiting

Recruitment target

Click here to see how many participants have been recruited into this study to date (external link to the NIHR public study search) 

Recruitment group(s)

Informal caregivers of an individual with MND.

Locations

Participant identification centres (PICs):

Information about study sites

Key dates

Recruitment open date: 7th June 2022

Planned recruitment end date: 2nd August 2024

Participant information sheet

Participant information sheet  (PDF, 183KB)

Inclusion / exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria

NOTE: Caregivers may continue participation based on their own preference in the study if their family/informal member dies during the 12-week intervention. We will ask participants to notify both their mentor and the research team in this event. These participants will have usual access to bereavement supports available to them.

Exclusion criteria

Receiving active psychiatric/psychologist care identified through self-report prior to consent. Participation in other research is not an exclusion but will be assessed by the CI/research team for appropriateness.

Sponsor

King's College London

Study design

Interventional

Intervention

Outcome measures

1. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS);

2. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule;

3. Zarit Burden Interview;

4. Pearlin Mastery Scale;

5. Personal Gain Scale;

6. Brief COPE.